In most areas of Trade Sales coatings, water based latex coatings or paints have replaced the traditional solvent based or alkyd coatings. Water based latex coatings have the advantage over solvent based coatings in terms of generally superior durability, ease of application and clean-up, and in the elimination of costly, toxic, flammable solvents. One area in which latex systems have failed to replace solvent based systems is in coatings for concrete surfaces, particularly paints for concrete flooring. In this utility excellent adhesion of the coating to the concrete surface is required in order to prevent blistering and peeling of the paint film during normal use. Excellent adhesion is obtained with solvent based coatings because they penetrate and bind the loose, porous surface of a concrete substrate. Latex coatings, even those based on very small particle size dispersions (0.03-0.05.mu.) have not been successfully used by us to penetrate typical concrete surfaces, although Mondt et al indicate in U.s. Pat. No. 4,089,999 that they have been able to do so. Because of their inability to penetrate and bind, standard latex coatings form films which adhere poorly to concrete surfaces. This property has severely limited the market for latex floor paints.